Chef Gary | Salmon Mousse

• Make the Court Bouillon: Combine one bottle of white wine, a Chardonnay is good, with a quart of water, one onion diced, one head of garlic cut in half, one carrot peeled and sliced, one stalk of celery sliced, 2 bay leaves, 12 black peppercorns, and a couple branches of thyme. Bring these to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.
• Add the Salmon. Simmer for 3 minutes and remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes - it will be medium rare at this time. Do not let the Court Bouillon boil.
• Drain the salmon. Place it in a food processor along with the salt, pepper, shallot, lemon juice, and two tablespoons of the cream. Blend to a fine puree.
• Meanwhile, soften the gelatin in cool water. Place softened gelatin in a saucepan with the two remaining tablespoons of cream. Heat cream and gelatin until gelatin is fully dissolved. Add cream and gelatin mixture to the salmon puree and blend until smooth..
• Pour into molds and chill at least 3 hours.
• Serve cold.

• This holds in the refrigerator - well wrapped in plastic wrap - for up to one week.
• You can chill the salmon mousse on a sheet pan and cut out shapes when it is cold. At the restaurant, we used a heart-shaped cutter to cut out hearts and served this as an amusé.
• Garnish with a sliced strawberry for a lovely Valentine's Day treat.
• We garnished this with a beet reduction - take 5 pounds of beets, peeled and juiced. Simmer the juice (slowly as it burns very easily) until it is reduced to 1 ½ cup. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and cool. It will be bright red, very sweet, and syrupy. Put the beet reduction into a squirt bottle and drizzle the sauce around the mousse.
• You may cut the recipe in half or double it depending on how many people you have to serve.
• Use the best salmon you can find - preferrably wild caught salmon. The flavor is all salmon so you want good salmon.

Glossary:

• Court Bouillon - This is a traditional white wine based liquid for poaching fish. It is generally simple with onion, carrot, celery, and herbs. Sometimes chefs add fennel and vary the herbs for different flavors. After poaching the fish, the bouillon can be reduced and butter added to make a nice fish sauce.